It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit because there is no winter there.

JOB 1

Another of our grouping of five books; Proverbs, James, Job, Ecclesiastes and Jude. This book can be a help to you if you wish to learn a great secret from God. It has been a blessing to many believers. In fact, it has been the turning point in the spiritual life of some. It is the only book in the Bible which deals exclusively with the life of one person. We must not forget that God interests Himself about a soul!

This makes it very personal. The build-up of the story takes 41 chapters, while the point of the book is packed into a few verses in the last. If you were to read only this last chapter, you would get very little of the powerful message which the Lord has for us. Remember that most of the 41 chapters are the thoughts of men. Taken by themselves, these thoughts are often not correct. But they are necessary in order to get the whole point of God's message. For instance in 21:17 Job says "God distributeth sorrows in His anger".

Do you think this is true? No, it is not, but this is what Job said at that particular time. If Job was such a good man, how could God find any fault in him? If Job was a bad man, how could God allow him to say such a dreadful thing and let him get away with it? What was wrong with him? Around these questions, the whole book is built. God alone saw what was wrong in Job. If you learn the answers and apply them in your own life, you will be a happy Christian to the end of your days on earth.

Job 1:1-5 Notice (a) how good he was, (b) that he feared God, (c) that he eschewed (kept away from) evil, (d) that God had given him the perfect number (7) of sons, (e) how rich he was, (f) how great he was, (g) that he offered sacrifices to God for his children (rising early) just in case they sinned, (h) that he kept up this life regularly. What is God trying to show us? We'll see!

Job 1:6-12 The angels are here in the presence of the Lord; Satan is among them. At first we might be surprised to find Satan here in God's presence and with the other angels of God. But it helps us to understand when we realize that God hasn't yet acted in judgment in putting down evil. In the future, Satan is going to be cast out of the heavens. (Rev. 12:7-9) Another thing to notice: In the beginning and end of this book the name "the Lord" is used, the middle part "God". "The Lord" appears 16 times in the first 2 chapters.

The Lord draws the attention of Satan to Job, saying of him the exact words used in the first verse. Satan replies that the reason why Job feared God was because God was so kind to him, and that if all these things were taken away he would be like anyone else, and would curse God to His face. The Lord gives Satan the power to trouble Job, and surely he does. But we'll see that all Satan's accusations against Job fail.

Job 1:13-22 The blows fall. He loses everything. And it is recorded of him that in all this he didn't sin.

#630

When Christ reveals Himself there is satisfaction in the slenderest portion, and without Christ there is emptiness in the greatest fulness.

JOB 2

Job 2:1-10 In God's presence again, Satan says that if he were allowed to touch Job's body, he would curse Him. The Lord allows Satan to go further (God controls how far Satan can go in attacking us). Satan was not allowed to kill Job.

Job 2:11-13 Job's three friends hear of the disasters, and come to visit him. Notice what they did for seven days! What a sight Job must have been. Your mind is possibly full of thoughts as to why God would be so unkind to Job when he was so good. If you are reasoning like that, then it may be that the Lord has a message for you too. Many of us are very thankful that the Lord has spoken to us through Job.

#631

The most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men.

JOB 3

Today we commence to hear the thoughts of Job, and his friends. You will have to remind yourself over and over again, that these thoughts are Job's, not God's. You will notice that Job seems to feel that he is right and that God is wrong; he is defending himself. Job commences by saying that he is sorry that he had been born. (But we are glad that he was!) He thinks God is against him, because all his thoughts were from and about himself.

Job 3:25-26 When everything had been going well, he had fears that something like this was going to happen! In other words, he did not have peace in his soul. He was uneasy, all was not well. He was correct. You see, he was good outwardly, but not in God's sight; we will only find the answer at the end.

#632

Not only the worst of my sins, but the best of my duties speak me a child of Adam.

JOB 4

One of the visitors, Eliphaz, answers. We must all admit that these were wise men by the world's standards, but one thing they lacked was they didn't know God's thoughts. Each of the three following men has a different arguing point. This man is going on personal experience and so he is not going to tell us anything more than the human mind can think.

Job 4:1-6 He says that while Job had been giving advice to everyone and helping them in their troubles, when disaster came to him, he got all upset.

Job 4:7 He asks if Job ever heard of an innocent person suffering. What he really meant was that Job must not be innocent, or this trouble would not have come to him!

Job 4:8 "I have seen". He was going on human experience. This never helps the believer spiritually. "The world by wisdom knew not God" 1 Cor. 1:21.

Job 4:12-21 Next he tells of a dream, or a vision he had. It had upset him a great deal. It sounds as if it could have been Satan whom he saw. It all is a criticism of God's work, that God just destroys men as quickly as He creates them, and there is no alternative.

#633

Our mind is where our pleasure is, our heart is where our treasure is, our love is where our life is, but all these, our pleasure, treasure, and life, are reposed in Jesus Christ.

JOB 5

This man Eliphaz continues with his own thoughts which he had drawn from his own experience. The wiser these sound, the more wicked they are, because they fool people. What he is saying here is that everything which happens to us is caused by something which we have done. So in verse 17 he says that God is correcting people. By this he was suggesting that Job needed to correct his life. He tells him to cheer up, in the end everything would come out well. Isn't that what the world says today?

#634

When sin is your burden, Christ will be your delight.

JOB 6

Job is going to argue about this, so the chapter starts with "But Job". All the words in the 48 verses which he had just heard brought him nothing but more sorrow.

Job 6:14 He is feeling more sorry for himself every day.

Job 6:24 He is searching himself to see if there is any little fault in him. Poor Job.

#635

To argue from mercy to sin is the devil's logic.

JOB 7

Job continues his self-centered talk. For many times in these 21 verses he speaks the words "I, me, my, myself".

Job 7:19 He wants to be away from God.

Job 7:20 He flashes out this statement "I have sinned", after defending everything he had done (verse 24 of yesterday's chapter). He is lashing out in all directions.

#636

It is a destructive addition to add anything to Christ

JOB 8

The second visitor - Bildad, now speaks. His line is different from the thoughts of Eliphaz. This man's arguments are that we must rely on tradition. Everything which is old is right (verse 8). You hear many people speaking like this today. They say "I am going to stick to my grandfather's religion".

Job 8:20 But here is where such thoughts led to. "God will not cast away a perfect man". So all we need to be is perfect and He will be satisfied with us. What a terrible thing to say!

#637

Nothing is more contrary to a heavenly hope than an earthly heart.

JOB 9

Job's reasoning gets more bitter. He agrees with yesterday's speaker that a man should be perfect before God! (What a foolish thought). But he does not know how he can be more perfect than he is.

Job 9:4 He reasons something like this - "Who ever won when they argued with God?"

Job 9:5-14 God is too powerful and too busy to listen to Job, he thinks.

Job 9:16 Even if God would take time to listen to him, Job says that he would not believe it!

Job 9:17 God punishes him when there is no reason for it! Not very nice to think that!

Job 9:18 God fills him with bitterness, or so he reasons.

Job 9:20 Even if he should consider himself perfect, then there would be something else wrong. "You can't win", is really what he is saying.

Job 9:22 He says that God destroys both the perfect and the wicked alike!

Job 9:23 That God laughs at our troubles.

Job 9:30-31 He just could not please God no matter what he did. (Aren't we thinking along those lines sometimes?)

Job 9:32-35 He says that he would have a better chance if God were a man. Or even if there were someone who could come between them! (Read what God had done about this point in 1 Timothy 2:5).

#638

If the guilt of sin is so great that nothing can satisfy it but the blood

of Jesus; and the filth of sin is so great that nothing can fetch out the

stain thereof but the blood of Jesus, how great, how heinous, how sinful

must the evil of sin be.

JOB 10

Job 10:1-14 Job keeps up his accusations against God, but it does not make his thinking any clearer. Read the next verse to find where all this talk was leading him.

Job 10:16-22 He gets more bold.

Job 10:21-22 These verses remind us of the world into which the Lord Jesus came. And it is still in darkness.

#639

A man may be theologically knowing and spiritually ignorant.

JOB 11

The third friend, Zophar - now speaks. We remember that the first one - Eliphaz, used the experiences of life as the bases of his arguments. The second one, Bildad - used tradition as his, this one uses law and religiousness as his starting point.

Job 11:3 He asks Job some questions - should Job's lying tricks be left unanswered, and should not someone try to shame Job when he mocked God?

Job 11:6 This man suggests that God was letting Job off easily!

Job 11:14-15 His idea is that if Job were good and religious, he would have no fear.

Job 11:16-20 His theme is no more comforting to Job than any other worldly ideas.

#640

It is the happiness of heaven to have God be all in all.

JOB 12

Job 12:2 Job replies sarcastically. He told them that when they died wisdom would die with them!

Job 12:3 But he comes right back, by saying that he had his ideas too! He is not going to take a second place. There wasn't much humbleness!

Job 12:9-25 He launches into another criticism of God's ways. He says that God does just what He wants and there is no reason for His actions. He is not consistent (verse 20).

#641

Pride is the shirt of the soul, put on first and put off last.

JOB 13

Job 13:3 Job wants to reason with God, but not to listen to Him.

Job 13:4-6 He does not think much of the advice he is receiving, does he?

Job 13:15 This sounds good, but is it? Notice the second part, he is quite determined to argue for his own ways. He was trusting himself, and not God.

Job 13:18 Such verses prove what was in his heart. He was quite satisfied that he was right.

Job 13:19 He would die if he stopped talking, he says!

Job 13:20-28 You can plainly see that Job is still filled with self- confidence. He is not ready to surrender.

#642

The world rings changes, it is never constant but in its disappointments. The world is but a great inn, where we are to stay a night or two, and be gone; what madness is it so to set our heart upon our inn, as to forget our home?

JOB 14

Job often comes back to his first desire - to die. And he goes so far as to say that when people die they never rise again! He says that there is more hope for a tree, because sometimes it sprouts again, but not so for man! Now you are beginning to see inside Job's heart. Outwardly (to the appearance of people), Job was correct and perfect. But what about his heart toward God? You can see now what God is doing. Bringing him to the end of himself, but he has a long, long way to go. And so it is with us. God deals with us over a long period of time.

#643

All of the stones that came about Stephen's ears did but knock him closer to Christ, the corner-stone.

JOB 15

You will notice that Job's friends have three turns to speak. Here we listen to the first man again - Eliphaz. This was the man in chapter 4 who was basing his arguments on personal experience. What he had seen (verse 17 of today's chapter). Most people in the world today are doing exactly the same.

Job 15:17-35 So here he is telling Job that God is not fooled. Wicked people suffer. He gives a long talk on all the things which happen to wicked people. He seems to be trying to convince Job that he is getting exactly what his life deserved!

#644

The flowers smell sweetest after a shower; vines bear the better for bleeding; the walnut-tree is most fruitful when most beaten; saints spring and thrive most internally, when they are most externally afflicted.

JOB 16

But Job denies all this. In verse 17 he claims that there is nothing wrong with his life. Even his prayer is pure. He says the reason is that God hates him! (Verse 9). Do you think this was the reason?

Job 16:21 He feels that God is far away from him. All this is necessary to bring Job down.

#645

It is truth alone that capacitates any soul to glorify God.

JOB 17

Job still tries to justify himself.

Job 17:8-9 Four groups of good people, Job says, will see that it is worth trying to be good and that they will try harder.

Job 17:11-16 But Job returns to his depression, and waits for death.

#646

Sin hath the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for

its wages.

JOB 18

Bildad has his second turn to speak. He is the one that depends on traditions. What is old is good, he thinks, (like many people today!)

Job 18:2-4 He again attacks Job. He does not like to listen... talking is his specialty.

Job 18:5-21 His answer to Job's problems is that wicked people always suffer - Job is suffering - therefore Job must be wicked.

Job 18:18 His idea of the end of the wicked! They shall be chased out of the world!

Job 18:9-21 He comes back to his first thoughts. To have a good reputation so that the next generation will look up to you. In other words - tradition.

#647

Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins.

JOB 19

Job 19:1-6 The more the men spoke to Job, the worse he felt. And he has just heard the worst speech! Job replies, and its not good either. They were justifying themselves and condemning Job. So he starts to condemn them! But he admits that God has thrown him over.

Job 19:7-20 If it was any comfort for them to know, he confesses that his trouble comes from God's hand. Job feels that every person he ever knew has turned against him. His close friends have forgotten him. Even the maids in his house consider him a stranger, and pay no attention to him. Job calls to a servant, and he won't answer him. Even his wife is like a stranger to him, and the little children have no use for him.

Job 19:21-22 He cries out for mercy.

Job 19:23-24 It is rather strange, but this is exactly what has happened!

Job 19:25-29 He makes this remarkable admission, and yet it has such little effect on him.

#648

Suppose a Christian turned his back on the light; what then? Then the light will shine upon his back!

JOB 20

Now Zophar, the third friend, speaks for the second time. He comes out with his philosophy and it is very empty. The thoughts of many well-educated people today are exactly the same. In verse 4, he says that this wisdom has been held since man was put on the earth.

Job 20:5-29 And so he proceeds to say that the wicked are soon cut off, and the joy of the hypocrite is only for a short time. Is this correct? No it is not. For we know some who have been wicked people all their life, and they have lived to an old, old age. By all this he is trying to prove that Job must be guilty. He could not possibly suffer like this if there was not a cause. Poor Job. Not much comfort in these thoughts.

#649

Giving to the Lord, and in His name, to others is not something that we do; it is the result of what we are.

JOB 21

Up until this point Job has not been willing to admit that anything his friends have said was right. But here we notice a change.

Job 21:1-13 The argument goes on and on, as to whether the wicked people live long. Job says that they have a happy life.

Job 21:13 But he admits that suddenly they die. (Do you think that there is any sense in the arguments of these men? Do you think that the wicked get away with things in this life? Yes, they do).

Job 21:14-15 This is what the wicked say in their heart.

Job 21:16 But Job is quick to tell us that he is not like them!

Job 21:17-34 Here is where Job admits a bit of the arguments of Zophar, that the wicked get cut off suddenly. But he says that God does this because He gets angry at them. We can notice slight changes in Job. He begins to allow that there was some truth in what they were saying, but not much.

#650

Each Christian has his own ministry to fulfill, and no Christian is competing with any other Christian in the will of God.

JOB 22

We hear Eliphaz for the third and last time. He is angry now at Job.

Job 22:2 He tries to prove that how a man acts does not affect God.

Job 22:4 "Is God afraid of you!" he asks.

Job 22:5 Job has always been insisting that he is innocent. Here Eliphaz says that to say this is a great wickedness.

Job 22:6-30 He accuses Job of hidden evil. But he goes farther than the truth. For Job was never like what he describes him as in verses 6, 7 and 9.

Job 22:21 This man Eliphaz is so proud he calls on Job to get to know God! Job knew God better than Eliphaz, although he has yet to learn his mistake.

#651

It is well to beware of anything that magnifies the attainments of man, thereby obscuring grace.

Job 23

So far as Job's outward life is concerned, he does not have a bad conscience. His so-called comforters were always trying to convince Job that there must be some hidden sins in his life which were causing all this trouble. But here he answers these charges. (We must remember that Job has not yet made the great discovery. But so far as his life before men is concerned, it is faultless). He knew God far better than his friends did. He longed to be closer to God.

Job 23:10 He did not know all this would bring glory to God, but he did know that he was not a hypocrite.

Job 23:12 Beautiful words. God's word was more important to him than his daily food!

#652

Read the Word of God. Not to acquire knowledge, but to obey it!

JOB 24

This is an interesting chapter. Job touches on a subject that you probably have often wondered about. Why are the wicked people allowed to get away with things?

#653

Believers are never told to "become one"; they are one! And we are to act like it.

JOB 25

Next comes Bildad for the last turn. He has very little to say now. A few remarks about the wonderful power of God. He is very depressing, although all that he says is true. Did it meet Job's need? No indeed, nor can any earthly wisdom ever help us to know God.

#654

If one believer is more spiritual than another, it is because he values the Person of Christ more. All power for Christian walk and testimony depends upon the appreciation of Christ.

JOB 26

Job goes much farther, and does a much better job of telling about God's power than Bildad did. And he does not just speak of the things which can be seen, but he describes the things of the unseen world. But although Job could speak this way, there was one question in Job's mind which he could not solve and that was... Why would God, Who is so great and he, a man so small and unimportant, take the trouble to bother. Just let the man alone. Underneath all Job's thoughts was the uneasy sense that he was not suffering from just the ordinary circumstances which were going against him, but that it was God Who was dealing with him. He was right and his friends therefore could not help him because they were not realizing that God had a wonderful plan in the whole affair.

#655

It is the very nature of the newborn soul to love not only God, but those who are begotten of Him. This love knows no sectarian limitation, but embraces all the people of God.

JOB 27

In this chapter Job takes up another subject. Not the glory of God, as yesterday, but the unhappiness of the hypocrite, and his awful doom at the end of his life. He was really doing a much better job of describing the hypocrite than the others had done. He uses very colourful language.

#656

Every act of service should have the perfume of the incense - the savor of worship in it.

JOB 28

Are you beginning to get the purpose God has for giving us the Book of Job? God is using Job to teach us that He wants all His children to enjoy Him. And the only way we can learn this is in doing two things every day.

(1) To judge myself and stop doing the things I know don't please Him, and (2) to submit to God. Job hasn't learned this yet, and so in this chapter he keeps on trying, just like he is telling his friends that people can do great things but they can't understand God.

Job 28:1-11 Job describes man's struggles in this life. People search after gold and precious stones of every kind. They move mountains, change the courses of rivers (think of what science is doing today!) They can do many wonderful things, but these solutions don't give them the answers to the questions in verse 12.

Job 28:13-19 All the treasures buried in the world cannot produce it.

Job 28:21, 27 Death itself does not have the answer. God now leads towards the answer.

Job 28:28 And here it is. Read this verse. Then read 1 Cor. 1:30. Are we finding the answers to our problems in these two verses too? There is no other answer. Though Job tells this, he doesn't apply it to himself... Is this why we don't understand too?

#657

It is the subject believer who becomes fruitful.

JOB 29

The third man, Zophar is silent. Bildad had little to say last time (chapter 25). These three men are defeated, even by sick and suffering Job. They are more vexed at their failure than they are humbled! Job has the field to himself, and he uses it. Many times in the chapter, he uses the words, "I" "me", or "my". He tells us all about the "good old days". He thereby is showing us that he is no farther ahead in learning God's message than the other 3 men.

Job 29:11 When people listened to him! When people looked at him! This verse is going to be referred to when we come to the great event at the end.

#658

The moment the Christian looks at himself as in Christ there is no "if"; but when the Christian is looked at as in the wilderness, there are "ifs"; not that there is the smallest doubt, but to bring in dependence.

JOB 30

Here Job contrasts all yesterday's good days to his present dark days. He mentions himself 62 times and takes six more verses to describe the sad days than the glad ones.

Who is he only thinking about? There is no doubt that Satan is making him feel sorry for himself. He does the same to us believers if we don't learn the lesson this Book is going to teach us at the end.

#659

There is no way of keeping in close touch with God unless a new step is taken in advance whenever new light is given.

JOB 31

Today Job makes a grand defense of himself, taking 40 verses to do it. He protests that he is innocent by using the following arguments.

Job 31:1 He was moral.

Job 31:3-12 He was just and fair with other people.

Job 31:13 He was nice to his servants.

Job 31:15-20 Kind to the poor.

Job 31:21 Never took advantage of orphans.

Job 31:24-25 Did not love money.

Job 31:26-28 Hated worshipping other gods (like the sun).

Job 31:29-30 Never took revenge.

Job 31:31-34 Was kind to strangers, and afraid of no-one.

Job 31:38-40 If his fields could claim he was cruel, then let thorns come up in them. Do you think such a man could ever learn the lesson God was trying to teach him? Wait.

#660

We often deceive ourselves buy concluding that because we steer clear of certain evils we are preserved in capability and fitness for service in the field. But this is not enough: we must walk in the Spirit.

JOB 32

A great change takes place. The three comforters have said all they can. Job too has said a lot, although they have arrived nowhere. But God is ready with a new man. Hadn't Job been asking that there might be someone who could come between God and him? (chapter 9:33) God has a man. God is always ready, but He is so wise, He knows we have to talk ourselves out.

The man's name is Elihu. In him we can get a little glimpse of another Man. The One who has really come between God and us. Read 1 Timothy 2:5 to see Who He is. Elihu is very careful to explain that he is just an ordinary man, and a young one at that. (The Lord Jesus always took a low place too). He takes a long time to get started speaking, (the whole chapter). When he starts, you will see that he knows God a lot better than the others, including Job.

#661

The two great activities of a saint are faith and love, both occupied outside myself: faith to count on the One who loves me, and love to think of and serve those whom He loves.

JOB 33

Notice something new in verse 4. For the first time in the book of Job we read of the Spirit of God (once in 26:4, but not spelt with a capital "S"). When the Spirit of God speaks through a person, it no longer makes any difference whether they are young or old. This young man is speaking as guided by the Holy Spirit of God... the secret of his power... the secret of power in any believer's life.

There is always a great difference between the man who speaks what God tells him to speak, and the man (no matter how clever) who speaks his own thoughts. This is what we can see in the book of Job up to this point. The other friends were speaking their own thoughts, and so was Job! (see verse 9 of yesterday's chapter). The world is becoming darker each day because the people are listening to "great men" and not God's Word. Throughout this chapter we notice how nicely Elihu speaks. He is not boasting, but speaks with confidence... with grace and truth.

Job 33:8-11 Elihu was a good listener, and good listeners have good memories. Elihu repeats what Job had said.

Job 33:17-30 A very important lesson in these verses. (We can apply them to our own life as believers in the Lord Jesus. Take a minute to read verse 7 of chapter 36. The Lord Jesus never takes His eyes off each believer today. But that doesn't mean that He lets us get away with our careless, disobedient doings.) Yet Job was the most upright man on the earth. So what is wrong with Job? His problem was that he was thinking that he was pretty good. If Job had bowed his heart before God, he would not have had these troubles. So we all need to learn that the Lord loves us too much to let us do our own will.

#662

The word of God is the chisel by which the lines of Christ are formed in me!

JOB 34

Yesterday Elihu was speaking to Job. Today he speaks to the men about Job. In these few words, Elihu gives us a glorious view of God. How different from what the others, including Job, had said about God.

Job 34:29 A grand verse! God is not as other men are! Are we growing to know our Father better and better? He surely is a loving Father.

Job 34:32 Another wonderful verse. Our conscience is touched. "If I have done iniquity." The fault didn't lie with God. It lay deep in the heart of Job. He had been trying to be good! But God had a better way!

Job 34:35 Elihu is a faithful man. God's men are not afraid to speak the truth. They never will be popular in this world. Job's conscience was being touched.

#663

The fruit of the Spirit cannot be manufactured in our own strength. Only the life of Christ within can produce this fruit.

JOB 35

Elihu speaks plainer still, and Job becomes smaller and smaller. Elihu turns the thoughts of all heavenward. Don't we all feel pretty small when we gaze into the heavens on a clear star-lit night? Read verses 5-10. Aren't they a great help to see the greatness of God? God sees everything and He saw right down into the heart of Job. But our thoughts are being turned up to God, not down to Job. When we look up, we learn.

#664

Show me a heart that is watching for Christ, and I will show you a pair of hands occupied for Him in some way or another.

JOB 36

Job 36:1-3 God was the centre of Elihu's thoughts. His eye was on God. Job had his eye on himself, (the cause of all Job's trouble).

Job 36:3 It is grand when we follow this verse in our life.

Job 36:4 The closer we walk with God, the wiser we are. Elihu had perfect confidence that he was speaking God's truth.

Job 36:5-17 Remember that you are reading the Old Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ had not yet come to earth. God was still testing people to see if they would obey. Never mix Christianity with the religion of the Jews. But we believers can learn much from the Old Testament. We, Christians, quickly and easily get out of communion with the Lord, get impatient, irritable, fault-finding, judging everyone but ourselves and all this goes on until God takes us in hand, by methods He knows to be best, and brings us back to Him. (We never can be lost, but we sure can get unhappy). This is what we are learning from Job, even although Job knew nothing about salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Job 36:7-12 Here is a serious warning. A person might be so unwilling to submit to God that it would result in his death. In 1 Cor. 11:29-31, there is the same statement, and don't forget that this latter one was in the day of grace, the Christian era. Our sins would be forgiven but what sorrow it would bring!

Job 36:18 We cannot be careless with God.

Job 36:26 God never really was known by man until the Lord Jesus came to earth.

Job 36:26-33 Elihu keeps reminding them of the greatness of God, so that they would have true brokenness of heart, and humbleness of mind. Job had not yet come to this.

#665

No service is worthy of Him if it is not done in humiliation.

JOB 37

Job 37:1-3 Wonderful description of the greatness of God. How little we realize it.

Job 37:14 Job was told to stand still and listen and consider! Three steps, wonderful instruction for us.

Job 37:15-24 Elihu asks five staggering questions. Do they make you feel small?

Job 37:21 How grand a secret is hidden here for us who live in the day of grace! Jesus Christ is the light which is hidden in the darkness. In our natural (unsaved) state we did not see that bright light.

Job 37:24 None clever of heart shall see Him! Unless we see God's holiness and heart of love, we will be thinking of how good we are. These are the last words of Elihu.

All the talking by these five men comes to an end. Now GOD is going to have something to say! Be prepared to hear wonderful words!

#666

Nearness to Christ would keep us from sectarianism - the most natural weed of the human heart.

JOB 38

God Himself speaks! What will He say? Job has said that God would not take the trouble to speak to him (9:32 and 19:7, 23:8,9 29:5, 30:20,21 and 31:35 and many more). We know how much God is interested for God has told us all we need to know! Anything else is merely the inquisitiveness of the human mind. God reviews His works of creation as an example of His power and wisdom. This surely will make Job see his smallness.

We cannot take any particular verses and speak about them. You should read the whole passage as one grand and glorious message from the very mouth of God Himself. (We would have thought that God would have spoken like this when He told of creation in Genesis, chapter 1, but He reserves it for one single man, Job).

#667

We need to be watchful against boasting; we need to be still in the presence of God, for there is much independence everywhere.

JOB 39

Could any words in our language make us feel smaller? These four chapters give us one of the greatest views of God's wisdom and power to be found anywhere in the Bible. All this is necessary for Job (and us) to see. And for us it is all the more wonderful, for it makes us realize what glory the Lord Jesus laid aside to become a Man, and suffer all the shame and insults by the creatures His blessed hands had made!

#668

God has given us His Word and Holy Spirit because He wants the world to see us in the same way He sees us, which is looking like Jesus.

JOB 40

Job 40:1-3 All the wonderful words of the Lord are having their effect on Job. We pray that the same effect may be had on each one of us as we read too. Job is beginning to be broken. What a wonderful place for the believer to be brought! Speechless before God!

Job 40:6-24 But the Lord knew that more was needed to bring Job completely to the end of himself.

Job 40:15 Perhaps this is the hippopotamus.

#669

Self revelation precedes divine revelation.

JOB 41

Job 41:1-9 Possibly, this is a crocodile. Job would have to say "not me" to every one of these questions. But God is leading up to the next verse.

Job 41:10 If no one is able to meet a mere animal, who is able to stand before God? What a question!

Job 41:11 God controls everything.

Job 41:12-34 God proceeds to describe the mighty power of an animal. The description is frightening. The words have their effect on Job, may they work the same way on us. May they open our eyes to see our smallness, and God's greatness. God has finished speaking, and now we come to the great moment in Job's life.

#670

Let us be careful that we don't get out of the soul rest in seeking further blessing. God cannot work while we are anxious - even about our spiritual experiences. Let us take Him at His Word, and leave the fulfillment of it to Him.

JOB 42

Job 42:1-4 Job is a humbled man! Gone are all thoughts of himself.

Job 42:5-6 Just few words. But they are the most important words he ever uttered. (When we believers are brought down so low that we utter them, we are on the way to a full, and rich and happy Christian life). Just read those words again. (We hear of the Lord when we get saved, but our lives are only given to Him when we get our eyes opened to see His beauty and all-sufficiency).

Job's new thoughts of God are quickly connected to new thoughts about himself. (What a contrast to the views of Job we get in 29:11). Job took a long time to get to this position (we too). God loves us too much to let us go on in our old careless way. Seldom is a believer brought down as low as Job, to see how vile he or she really is. This can only be experienced by coming into God's presence. Can we say "wherefore I abhor myself?" Our humbled spirit will show it in our life, if we have experienced some of it.

Supposing God had stopped at the end, what would be the use of the Book? Job might have said, "Well, when everything was prospering I was eyes to the blind (29:15) and when things were rough I was patient". That would have been the worst situation. But it wasn't what happened. Even though his friends were entirely wrong by thinking that this world was an example of the just government of God, Job suddenly realizes what he really is, and so we have verse 6.

Job 42:7-17 Job's thoughts turn to his friends. He even prays for them! And when he did this, God acted for him, and gave him double of everything he had before! Happy Job. (Happy we, if we have been humbled to see ourselves as God sees us. Then our eyes will be opened and we shall be able to say, "thank God that He ever put me through the trials"). Has the Book of Job been a help?